On 18.10.2024. The Annual Conference of the Association for Compliance in Business “Just Compliance” was held in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Belgrade. Like last year, the conference put Compliance in its focus and tried to offer something different compared to all other events in whose agendas Compliance is not sufficiently represented or not dealt with in the right way. This already traditional event once again brought together the Compliance community, managers of large companies, representatives of the academic community, regulatory bodies and state authorities in the same place, all with the aim of further improving dialogue, exchanging ideas and improving the Compliance function in all business sectors.

The conference was supported by the Association of Banks of Serbia, the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade, the Association of Internal Auditors of Serbia, the Association of Financial Directors of Serbia, the Association of Lawyers in the Serbian Economy and the Association of Lawyers of North Macedonia. We owe a great deal of gratitude to the main sponsors of the conference, PwC Serbia and other sponsors and donors: law firm Petrikić and partners (CMS), law firm Radovanović Stojanović and partners (RSP), law firm Moravčević Vojnović and partners (in cooperation with Schoenherr), Relio, Algotech and Deurić winery.

In his introductory presentation, the president of the Association for Compliance in Business, Miloš Bogdanović, sublimated the role and contribution of the Compliance function, as well as the circumstances in which the Compliance profession currently finds itself. In his speech, Mr. Bogdanović emphasized the need for further shaping and development of the Compliance function, pointing to its dual nature as an advisory and control function, whose focus is always on the individual. It was also pointed out the specificity of the present moment in which changes are the only constant, and the need for adaptation is imperative. It was also pointed out that knowledge and information are increasingly available to us, and that the main challenge is how to spend time wisely and focus energy on what is necessary and useful. In this sense, the accelerated progress of technology that we are witnessing means unstoppable progress in all spheres of life, including in the way we do business and deal with Compliance. The use of artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and other revolutionary improvements in the way we live and work means changes to which we need to adapt quickly. Specifically, for Compliance professionals, digitization and technological progress mean the automation of some processes and the possibility of increasing efficiency, but also new and greater risks that need to be recognized in a timely manner, considered and reduced to an acceptable level, where the elimination of risks is an impossible mission, which is in Compliance a common case. This further means that although artificial intelligence will close many jobs in the future, new ones will be opened on account of it, and some of them will be in Compliance.

The opening address ended with a quote from a part of the interview from 2019, which was given to the magazine of internal auditors of Serbia by one of the founders and the first president of the Association for Compliance in Business, Miloš Tanjević, and which all conference participants could find in the printed conference program:

To the question: “What does the word “compliance” associate with you?”, Miloš answered:

I love that word – to me it’s pretty succinct and can mean a lot of good – I don’t even like to translate it. It associates me with home education, with culture (regardless of whether from an anthropological or corporate point of view), with measure, business logos, with the portion of risk that you as a company or individual are ready to accept, without the principles of honesty being touched. In the spirit of our language, looking for an adequate rhyme for that word, we came up with “honorable business”. Such a business would ultimately mean that greed would once again be considered a “sin” and not a virtue. That’s compliance.”

The conference program continued with lectures and panels in the morning and afternoon sessions, while 20 carefully selected lecturers and panelists shared their knowledge and experience in Compliance relevant areas and topics. Among the lecturers and panelists of the conference this year were representatives of the top management of large companies, partners of the largest law firms, university professors, representatives of public companies, and judges of the European Court of Human Rights.

More than 200 participants had the opportunity to listen and discuss the role and importance of the Compliance function in business, the most significant regimes of sanctions, the biggest regional challenges in harmonizing business, preventing fraudulent activities, the impact of artificial intelligence on Compliance relevant risks and the fight against corruption through the definition of effective ABC programs in companies. Special attention was paid to the development of the Compliance function in the public sector and to the fact that from September 2024, the Law on the Management of Business Companies owned by the Republic of Serbia, whose provisions on the Compliance function, on which the Association had a decisive influence through proposing amendment of the proposed text of the law, which orders a large number of companies in the public sector to establish a Compliance function in their organizations. Bearing in mind that the further development of Compliance is possible only in the cooperation and synergy of the private and public sectors, as well as that colleagues in the public sector need help and support in order to properly adapt to the needs, new legal solutions, and best practices, the agenda of the Annual Conference of the Association included a panel discussion that gave representatives of state companies the opportunity to share their past experiences, plans and problems in establishing the Compliance function in the public sector.

The formal end of the working part of the conference was marked by the organizer’s final address, summarizing the work of the conference, discussed topics, questions and conclusions, but also emphasizing the fact that being a Compliance professional is a profession of the future, which has not yet reached its full form and potential.

After the lectures and panels, the conference participants had the opportunity to attend the Association’s festive cocktail party and enjoy the wines of the Deurić winery, which is with us for the second year in a row as a cocktail sponsor within the Annual Conference of the Association for Compliance in Business.